Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 6.djvu/171

 NOTICES OF ARCHAEOLOOICAL PUBLICATIONS. 87 making its way sloYly but surely in the remote parts of this countiy, would have excited an interest in these remains far greater than has hitherto been shown. Independently of traditional evidence or inscriptions, many of these carved stones reveal their great antiquity in the peculiar style of the ornamental details ; the very oldest Anglo-Hibernian illuminated manu- scripts presenting precisely the same ornaments, as well as, in numerous cases, the same mode of division of the pillar or monument into compart- ments, each with a separate design. The study of these remains in different parts of Great Britain and Ireland, will probably enable us to classify them, and, by a careful compa- rison of the details with analogous relics in other northern countries, to appropriate them to their true era and real founders. Not, indeed, that many such remains are to be found amongst the antiquities of the Scan- dinavian or Celtic nations of the Continent ; thus, in Wagoner's excellent and very comprehensive " Handbuch der Vorzuglichsten in Deutschland entdeckten Alterthiimer," we do not find a single monument which bears an analogy with those of our own country. Periugskiold and the Danish antiquaries have figured a vast number of monumental stones and crosses (mostly inscribed with Runic letters), yet none of these are of the same character as ours, nor are they equal to them in age. Brittany also, which from its close connexion with Coniwall and Wales for many centuries, might be supposed to be rich in these relics, so far as we have been enabled to learn, appears to be destitute of them. Regarding these objects, therefore, as peculiarly national, and at the same time as illustrating in very many instances the early establishment of Christianity in this country, we claim for them a greater degree of attention than they have hitherto received, and we invite such of our members as have the opportunities of so doing, to present to our Museum, casts, nibbings, or carefully-executed drawings of any existing in their respective neighbourhoods. A paper by the Rev. W. Haslam, in a former number of our Journal," shows us the Christian origin of many of these sculptures, as well as their simplest foi-m. Wales, and especially South Wales, is very rich in them, and here they assume a far more elaborate character ; interlaced ribbon patterns of exquisite design, and intricate to the highest degree, occur on many of them, whilst a peculiar Chinese-like pattern, formed of diagonal lines, is often met with, agreeing with one of the common ornaments of Irish and early Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. Of foliage or Norman ornament, we meet with scarcely any trace. It is but rarely in Wales that we find the elongated lacertine animals sculptured, which occur in the manuscripts and on the monuments of Ireland. Another peculiarity of these early Welsh carved stones,, is the rarity of the human figure. One of the Penally Crosses, however, has a beautifully executed foliated pattern, whilst another at the same' place has a pair of dragons opposed to each other ; and the great Newmarket and Pennion Crosses have a very few human figures sculptured in one of their compartments. The Penmon Cross also exhibits a peculiar ornament on one of its sides, which we have elsewhere met with only on some of the Cumberland Oossos, and which is never found ' Aiiliaeol. Jouinal, vi)l. iv. p. .'J02.